This book covered (amongst other things) the results of research - "throughseeking" - into words which were formerly found in English, but were lost as a result of the Norman Conquest; Looking through Old English words, we find that there are some that make more sense than the words we use today for the same concepts. This is because English now uses much material from Latin or French, instead of words with roots in Old English. To understand why this should be so, we must look back in history.
Before the Conquest, Anglo-Saxon England had a standard written English (Old English) which was an official medium.

This very expressive written tongue thrived at a time when most Western European learning and writing was in Latin. After the conquest, Latin quickly came to be used instead of English for official purposes. French became important officially after about 1150. English thus lost her position in writing and "high" society, and when she started to reassert herself around 1400, we find many French or Latin-derived words being used instead of native ones.

The pressure we may feel even today to use French and Latin words instead of good OE-derived ones is a leftover from these times; f.e. Commence instead of start or begin, received instead of had or got; there is nothing culturally higher or more sophisticated in using the "posh" words.
Many of our native English words were lost, but it is still possible to work out how they could have developed in Modern English, by analogy with words that have lived on. The "Englishing English Project" has worked on hundreds of such words. Many of these can be found below.

Some make good sense without explanation, such as afterfollower, fullwork, likeworthy, forelook (=preview) and oathbreach (= Perjury), whilst others just sound good; f.e. Frimdy (curious, inquisitive), steerless (profligate). With these "new" words from OE, the book breaks new ground, and they are given with the hope that some may find their way back into everyday Modern English.
Meanings of words change, and this has been reflected in the lists; if some of the words suggest meanings more natural and obvious than those given here, then all well and good, if they get to be used!
Other than making English even more expressive, re-adoption of good English words would also lead to other benefits:- in an ever more standardised world, it could help foster better appreciation of some things which are culturally unique to England, in positive ways.
A better knowledge of our own tongue's history and worth could lead to greater understanding of the plight of other languages, some of which are under pressure/ threat.
Hopefully this will help raise interest in the idea of broadening English and above all help those who would like to begin using some of the words. They belong to English and deserve to live, but can only do so if we use them!

Note on abbreviations.
Some abbreviations based on spoken English, rather than the Latin-based terms which are strangely used so often in writing:

In this wordlist an updated word is given first, followed by its meaning, and thirdly the O.E. source-word.

Note; Wordlist gives suggested meanings for new words - not always the exact meaning of the O.E. word from which they come. Having been worked out for potential usefulness, it would not be practical for modernised words always to have the precise meaning of their O.E. forebears (many of today's English words changed in meaning over the years).

The following shows some of the words from the book. It also has barely any un-English words, as native English - that is ourlandish words, bywords and sayings have been chosen where possible, throughout. I hope that the topic will also get some minds thinking!!

Whereas most folk in England lived on (and lived-off, foodwise) the land at one time, from about two hundred years ago onward there was a shift to living and working in towns. This has gone hand in hand with the forshapings of the way of life over this time. Few folk live and work on the land today - we now rather tend to toil with thoughts and writing - wordwrestling inside rooms, in buildings, in towns - instead of toiling with our hands in fields and woods as our forebears did until such a short time ago. And, rather than walking to our work, most of us spend much time wayfaring along busy roads before we can even start (this can be angsome to many, as well as being dear onthereto).

But, to be fair, there are many things about our way of life today that are good:- more of us overlive to a good oldness, we nearly all have enough food, clothing and at least the wealth to buy those things that we really need to live. Also, our children can learn many thrithely things and are mainly well looked after.
And yet, there are some folk who find that they underget feelings of angsomeness from the stirness and unstillness of today's living/ way of life. It may well be that there is a rise in these feelings, and more and more are thinking this way.

It seems to go hand in hand with this that many of us find ourselves besorrowing the loss of our links with the land. Though some would be quick to say we had our heads in the clouds, it is nevertheless the dream of many thousands to in some way get back to the land, earn our living on it (or at least something) and to forlet some of the angsomeness of town life...indeed, living on a smallholding and growimg enough to eat is called 'the good life' such is the ongetness of this way of life in everyday speech.
Though there are those who are yearnful for the good life, most would like to have the best of both worlds, that is by keeping most of those things that we do like about today's town way of life!!
Whilst we like the good things about today's way of life, most folk will not put up with less than they already have - if anything they want more and more - this being folks' suchness, some would say. If so, then there is a somewhat dim forthshaft awaiting us. So-called 'Green' thinking is that the more we take from the earth, the more we fordo her suchness. There are many bad things happening today which are through man's greed and carelessness - woetokens for the forthshaft - unless things are done to stop the worsening of the ozone hole, melting icecaps, rising seas a.s.f.
Lest it seems we are loosing our way by going off the 'yearning for getting back to the land' we had started to talk about, it may rather be that the two things are linked. That is, the yearing for the 'good life' can itself be seen as being 'green', going with the mindset that seeks a more thrithely, caring forthshift for us all. There is a kind of folkstiring towards green thinking, though maybe it is as yet rather more in the mind than in deeds and doing!
As has been already said about the 'good life', there are a great deal of folk who would say that it is only a head-in-the-clouds dream. Others may answer that if you have no dreams then you may never get anywhere anyway, or if you do others down for having dreams then you are wrong.

Rather than get too much into feelings and the mindsets of the sundry shades of thinking on this matter, it would be a good thing to think carefully about it, and try to weigh it up thoroughly in our own mind before we choose which side (if any!) we want to be on. Firstly, it should be said that there are many folk who have upped and awayed to the green fields, woods, hills and dales, forletting their former lives in towns and looking for a more likeworthy life. How have they fared? Some are glad that they have made the shift to that other way of life - or rather other ways - for these folk come from all walks of life and fit into life away from the towns in all sorts of ways. (And let it not be forgotten that those that have wealth and big houses in or near to towns can buy more to get started in a new way of life.)

What line of work one is into is also a big thing. But some folk have not been so happy, and found the life to be harder than they had thought it would be; they have been glad to get back to the towns (it is always wise to bear in mind the likely hardships one may find in a 'grass is greener over there' world!).
It would be hard to choose one way or the other until one had lived both lives, or at least talked to folk who had, and maybe read as much as one could about these things. But for those who are frimdy to learn more and want to at least have go at life on the land, it is sad to say that many find they are forstood by ties of work, loved ones/ kin, lack of wealth and suchlike things.

A lack of openings and the kind of know-how needed to get to grips with running a smallholding or following a craft to earn one's living seem to stand in the way too - even if one is not bound by those ties above. So one of the best things that could be done to help would be to work towards making those openings and giving folk the choice of once more having an eldright to live on and off the land, so to speak. Some of the giant farms could be bought by Whitehall, and instead of forspending to grow too much food or on 'setaside' land where no food is grown, the land could be dealt out into smallholdings, big enough for two, three, four a.s.f. folk to live happily off. These folk should first be taught the ins and outs of running smallholdings in a thorough way, so that they know what they are letting themselves in for! Those who like it could find their lives foreshaped. The land would hold more folk, and new work would be made (this could be a great thing for some folk who cannot get work in towns, but dearly want to do something worthwhile with their lives, are bright, and more than willing to work hard).
If the above looks too much like a dream, then it may help to bear this in mind: something like this has been started in the last few years in Ireland, and how well that has gone does bode well for the forthshaft. Maybe, if enough folk were likeminded in England, then something likeworthy and thrithely could be set off here too. I would forspeak forthway from some of the
set ways of thinking we have about how we should live our working lives. We need to take the best of the old ways of life and the best of the new, whilst looking after our home, the earth. If we can do so, then we shall see a needful forshaping for which our children and their afterfollowers shall thank us.